Outdoor 2018

They've become symbols of the Biennale: the monumental cardboard sculptures, introduced in the first edition, have always represented the potential of paper and the talent of the artists that create them during their month long artistic residency. From the beginning of August, the sculptures will be installed and inaugurated in the squares of the city.

James Lake

James Lake

Paperman - Piazza S. Frediano

James Lake is a British artist. He was forced to interrupt his studies as he was diagnosed with cancer and was subsequently forced to receive a leg amputation. He managed to obtain his degree once he had recovered, but to overcome the difficult convalescence, he taught himself sculpture with cardboard, then teaching his technique in various schools. James thinks art should be an instrument that unites society, and cardboard can knock down barriers that have been present up till now. Cardboard is also the material that elevates the artist the most, in fact he is presenting his self portrait at the Biennal, representing himself at work. The message imparted is that art can flower in a moment of chaos, such as a moment of illness, and can be exhibited in chaotic places like societies, but in the moment of work the artist finds himself alone in a room by himself, and finds inner peace.

Kubo Novak

Kubo Novàk

Life Space - Piazza S. Francesco

Jakub Novák is a Slovakian artist born in 1986. After obtaining a degree in architecture, he began working as a lecturer, but left this to dedicate himself entirely to his artworks. His work Life Space is a demonstration of how life can be compared to a closed space that each one of us fills with things that we consider special. These things, which aren’t definitive, may change with time because of events that change our point of view. They become our refuge, where we retreat to meditate, to find interior peace and recharge before diving back into the chaos of everyday life. Our life space is a geometric composition. What seems expressive and surprising when examined up close becomes a palpable modular system, whilst when seen from far away it gains a new shape, making us examine ourselves and isolate ourselves from chance.

Wu Wai Chung

Wu Wai Chung

No More Message - Palazzo Ducale

Wu Wai Chung studied architecture in Hong Kong and then London. She’s passionate about interacting with her audience through her innovative architectural pieces. “No more message” consists in a tunnel like structure, with the internal walls covered in pyramids to reduce the sound waves to a minimum. Visitors can try and communicate from one end to the other, but the sound will not travel clearly. The piece aims to make us contemplate how sometimes we would like to communicate something, but because of certain filters we cannot and we can’t be understood, in this way the silence we take refuge in generates chaos.

Eu Tazé

Eu Tazé

Silent Shell, Chaotic Shell - Palazzo Pretorio

Eugénie Tazé-Bernard was born in 1989, she is a French-Peruvian sculptor and set designer. In her pieces, she combines human anatomy with that of animals (the human body is used so that the visitor relates to the art piece whilst the animal anatomy is a symbol of the individual’s internal emotions). With her “Turtle Woman”, the artist presents a vision of a chaotic world overcome by modern life, inviting the spectator to contemplate what could happen to the future of humankind. It sparks the idea of human bodies adapting to new shapes that could cover them and become a protection, a way to escape, to stay in silence and connect with oneself. A sort of shield that shows the inevitable adaptation of mankind to this modern era.

Dosshaus

Dosshaus

Path of Paradox - Piazza Cittadella

Dosshaus is the creative collaboration of Zoey Taylor and David Connelly, artists whose work blends painting, sculpture, photography, fashion, video and performance. From the outset, the pair has been interested in the intersection of high and low culture. For Biennale they have created the piece “Path of Paradox”: a grand piano bisected by a coin that appears to have fallen from the sky. The edge of the coin serves as a guillotine, effectively silencing the musical instrument. The message that comes from the artwork has been taken by William Blake’s famous admonition “Where any view of money exists art cannot be carried on, but war only.” When money is wielded as a weapon against art, the resulting chaos leaves only silence in its wake.

Ankon Mitra

Ankon Mitra

The sights and sounds of the cosmos - Mercato del Carmine

Ankon Mitra is an Indian designer and architect born in 1982. He obtained a degree in design at The Bartlett, University College London. He is passionate about the technique of origami, and tries to integrate it with interior design, writing a book about it called “Questioning Architecture” in which he demonstrates how the Universe itself is a shape that folds and unfolds. Ankon Mitra is taking part in the Biennale with an artwork that recreates the dynamicity of the Universe. It makes the visitor contemplate the spectacular events that occur in the universe, how comets falling, black holes colliding and galaxies merging create a magnificent chaos that transforms our cosmos into a galactic dance, but to our eyes it appears silent. We can enjoy images of color and shapes that come from the universe, but we cannot listen to two stars collide. For us this chaos is silent.

Manuela Granziol

Manuela Granziol

Liminal Space - Piazza Guidiccioni

Manuela Granziol is a Swiss artist and economist, after moving to London with her family she followed herpassion for art. The art piece presented at the Biennale explores the unknown relationship between language and non-language, between communication of any kind and silence. A teenage girl sits on the ground with her head between her legs. Being a teenager represents a moment in which society, media, parents and peers exert pressure on the young girl. Creating this piece using small packages, she wants to represent the complexity of human existence. The various experiences and events that every human lives are fragments (memories, images, texts, people they have met) which make them part of something else, creating a chaotic subjectiveness